Nairobi high income areas Covid prone
Nairobi County accounts for more than half of the total fatalities resulting from coronavirus.
Contrary to popular belief that residents in slums and more populous low income areas are worst affected, the latest report indicates that high income areas such as Lang’ata and Westlands are the hardest hit, while residents in Mathare and Kibra recorded the lowest.
The report has also raised an alarm bell on the high infection rate among male adults between the ages of 30-39 over the last five months.
Out of a total of 1,111 total deaths occasioned by Covid-19, Nairobi has recorded 512 fatalities since the pandemic outbreak in March.
The county has also recorded the highest number of confirmed cases... 28,207 out of 61,769 translating to 45.7 per cent of the total cases countrywide.
Data released by the Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS) also indicates that men bore the brunt of the deadly virus, with 17,568 male were infected, compared to 10,639 of their female counterparts.
Worst hit
Lang’ata and Dagoretti North have also been identified as the worst hit sub counties in the city, with Mathare and Embakasi North the least affected.
The health department of the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) indicated in its latest county update in the weekend that out of the total Covid-19 cases, 17,568 are male compared to 10,639 female with about 10,698 recoveries for the last seven months.
According to the report, on Saturday alone Nairobi reported 263 new confirmed Covid-19 cases, accounting for 24.7 per cent of the 1,065 cases reported in the entire country. The county also reported two new deaths on the same day.
“There is an attack rate of 622 per 100,000 and case fatality rate (CFR) of 1.8 per cent.
Nairobi accounted for 45.7 per cent of all the cases - 61,769 - reported in Kenya since the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country on March 15 2020,” a Covid-19 daily situation report made public on Saturday shows.
In the report, Lang’ata with a positivity rate of 25.1 per cent and Dagoretti North with 14.8 per cent were the leading sub-counties with the highest positivity rates.
“So far since March 15 this year to November 7, Lang’ata is the leading with cumulative number of cases reported at 3, 869 followed by Westlands with 2,993, Dagoretti North 2,786 and Kibra 2,201.
Starehe follows at number five with 1,941 followed by Embakasi East with 1,870 and Makadara with 1,562,” the report shows.
Despite its vulnerability as one of the top four populous sub-counties in Nairobi with a population of 282,365, Mathare recorded only 742 cases since March, leaving medical experts dumbfounded over the trend.
It is followed by Embakasi North with 746 cases out of a population of 268,050 and Dagoretti South with 870 from a population of 264,146 and Embakasi Central at 872 from a population of 272,561.
